The Dominion Aint What It Used To Be
by Eviloply Joberns
Summary: A jaded marine is sent on one last mission to place he has never heard of with a cryptic Ghost for a partner when they get there they will find a true terror


Jamie Joberns-Dash 01/07/1996

**The Dominion Ain't What It Used to Be**

Polished leather boots screeched on the pristine neometal deck of the battle cruiser, the sound of the boots seemed to reach a devil's accord with the floor, making the person who the shoes belong to nearly stumble. General Timothy Crone sighed at the young lieutenant who the boots belonged to. Crone absentmindedly scanned the room. It was full of pencil pushers and commando mice that were always willing to send a good marine or two to their death, knowing they'd never again have to face that themselves.

Again Crone sighed, fiddling with his gun as visions of the last mission appeared behind his weary eyes.., all of his men had died this time, every last one of them. He remembered his youngest recruit, and the look of confusion on his face as he was chopped brutally into pieces. Crone always died a little bit more every time his men died. And this time the price was even higher than normal. He wondered if maybe they were the lucky ones. Most of them had quick deaths - but Crone wasn't dying as quickly. He was too stubborn for that, too enduring, even though the burdens of platoon command had worn on Crone harder than time could remedy. It was a growing debt of blood paid by other bodies. As he clutched the locket he had removed from a pocket, he remembered every single gory death. Their names would never be spoken in this room again, easily forgotten, like many of those that were in the room now.., but Crone never forgot and paid the price for that.

Crone knew why he was there; he knew what his hidden mission was. It had cost him a life, everything, but it was all going to be worth it in the end.. , he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned an icy glare at the fool who dared interrupt his thoughts, opened his mouth to speak in a tone that would have pierced the flint grey eyes facing him but the man said ..,

"You're wanted over there"

Nodding in the direction of three obviously 'Brass' looking men in the corner of the large hall. You could tell what they were, because in the crowded room, no one went near them. He would have preferred to put a bullet through their hard faces.., but took a breath and walked over in his encrusted armour instead.

Crone moved towards the brass, his armour's servos nearly dragging him towards them as if it couldn't disobey their commands. The most rodent like of the brass grinned an unnerving fake smile. He opened his pristine mouth to speak

"ah, the good general joins us.., we have got a lot to discuss".

Crone's unease increased, Brass never take interest in a marine unless they had something important and insidious to declare. Crone opened his own thoroughly decrepit mouth.

"Sir, respectfully, I have a mighty fine pile of condolence letters to write.., so if you will excuse me".

Crone managed a whole step before another of the semi Brass spoke up

"Son, you will show respect to Admiral Hena".

The boot licker who spoke was edging very close to a bullet.., Crone nailed him with a look, and the boot licker shut his mouth abruptly and licked his suddenly dry lips. The rodent who now had a name.., Hena .., ignored it all and spoke again

"General you are going to have to...put aside those letters. We respect the sacrifices of any Dominion marine but the mission we have lined up for you takes precedence".

The statement nearly made Crone go postal; they wouldn't even let him inform his platoon's families of their dead? Only considerable force of will made Crone's mouth to speak as expected..,

"Fine sir .., what does the brass want me to do?"

Crone sat on a munitions crate and heard the whine of bending metal. Hena again opened his pristine mouth

"Emperor Mengsk has certain...interests.., that need to be dealt with by a Ghost. Said Ghost is in need of extra protection. Mengsk chose you because you presently have lost your entire platoon, making you perfect for the mission. At all costs, the Ghost must complete his mission. The importance of this cannot be overstated. The survival of humanity depends on it. "

Crone was still irate but also becoming aware of a reluctant pea of curiosity, but he was careful to bury it deep.., curiosity wasn't good with Brass, however much he hated them.

"When do I leave" Crone asked politely

Henna spoke up again.., "Two hours from now. Report to Weapons for your equipment, then meet the Ghost here in two hours exactly.., don't be late" the admiral said this curtly. Crone felt his ire rising again.., he'd not been late for anything in 30 years of service.

"I'll be here".., he snapped.., and then turned and made his way out of the room with tightly contained rage in every bitter step. Not caring what the Brass thought of his actions.., after all they seemed to need his services. What could they do? But it felt good to not have to give a damn, for once.

Crone pondered for a moment. If he was younger, he would have argued with those snakes.., moaned, rebelled, all the time knowing there was no point but doing it anyway to justify himself, just like he did nearly 30 years ago. But Timothy Crone, General of the 23rd Fist of Bullets platoon 10 years running would not .., he was too old for that.

He pulled himself from his thoughts to focus on finding the armoury. Still, every step Crone took betrayed his anger and crewmen had to leap out of the way to avoid being shattered by the weight of marine armour. As he approached it he wondered just what lay within, and what he'd be allowed to take away with him. This mission could have its advantages, as most missions he never quite seemed to have the fire power he needed. As he stepped inside, he was greeted by the toothy grin of Gunnery Chief Dash

"Oh General, Nothing but the newest and best for you" (he managed to make it sound like an insult rather than a compliment somehow). Then there was a pause as the General looked at the mass of weaponry on the counter. Crone spent the next hour and a half checking over the new equipment making enhancements when necessary. He managed to persuade Dash to hand over a grenade launcher. Always useful and rarely available to marines. He noted the unfamiliarity of the Ghost's equipment.., he could not begin to guess their uses., but he just packed them away.., very carefully. He didn't believe the mess hall clatter about Ghosts.., but still he wasn't going to take any chances. Crone wasn't overly taken with his role as a Ghost's pack mule but somehow Crone was sure that this mission was going to give him the chance he'd been waiting for for the last 30 years. He had to do this .., for himself, for his family, for her...

Just as he was finishing up, the Gunnery Chief bounced over to Crone and shouted

"Sir, you need to double time it to the hanger.., you only have five minutes!"

He made his way to the door, the servos in his armour creaking with stress as he upped to top speed capability. The halls and corridors were mercifully sparse of life as a he zoomed towards the hanger bay.

The hanger bay buzzed with activity as he scanned it, looking for the Ghost. Crone noticed that although he could see the Ghost.., he seemed to be generally unnoticed by others in the bay. He watched for a while as people barely paused in their steps as they moved around the dark figure. Moving closer.., Crone noted the combat suit looked like a second skin that was lightly armoured and stiff when still, but on stirring, his suit seemed to shimmer and merge with whatever was in the background, making the Ghost almost invisible. The suit was as black as midnight, covering the form's face and hands as well as his body giving the appearance of a phantom merged into the darkness. Crone knew the Ghost sensed his observations (and if rumours were true, they had enhanced psionic powers).., he knew the Ghost was waiting for him, even with his back turned. As soon as Crone was within a metre of him.., the Ghost whipped his head towards Crone.

"You the marine?" His voice was almost robotic. Crone curtly nodded, hoping he was hiding his unease.

"I never repeat myself. I am not telling you about the mission after this dialogue is finished and its very need to know .., so listen up"

Crone admitted to himself the mission scared him almost has much as the Ghost but his interest was peaked (any conversation to do with his or while he had them, his men's survival tended to do this).

"You are unnecessary marine.., a dead weight.., but the admiralty has insisted on your presence (his voice slithered into silence for an instant so Crone would have chance to absorb the deliberate insult). From here we must travel to a location on the planet below. You are here to ensure I get there, nothing more. I will plant some devices in that pack but I suspect we are not expected to return. On our journey, try and think of ways in which you may be useful .., or I will kill you. Be warned, I do not want you here. The slightest hint of you hindering me and you will not be able to hinder anyone anymore. It is important no one knows we are going so we will leave immediately. No further briefing will be given and you will speak to no one. "

Crone knew this was an even more inadequate briefing than usual but trusting in his own experience to keep him alive, the insults just whistled past him as unimportant. The Ghost grabbed his pack off Crone as if he couldn't be trusted to hold it properly. They both moved onto the shuttle, towards the four seats in the middle of it. Crone could see the pilots in their bay.., but no one else was around.

"Understood, if we are going to be serving together could I at least have a name?" (He said this more to annoy than out a genuine wish to know).

The ghost who had been checking his pack on a shelf brought his head round again to snap

"Marine.., let us settle this now, we are NOT serving together, you shoot what I can't be bothered to aim at. That's it"

Crone felt the need to make a stand.., he'd come across attitudes like this before.

"Fine, fine, you be like that. I'm just gunna sit down on this shuttle right here. You can keep shoving that stick deeper up your ass". He looked pointedly at where the Ghost's rear end was supposed to be. "Not sure it'll go very far."

Having made some sort of point.., Crone lowered himself onto a hard shuttle seat. The Ghost did the same far more gracefully and throughout the remainder of the voyage, Crone felt the Ghost's appraising stare, even when he was looking straight ahead. Good, at least he was bothering to appraise.

After the shuttle left the docking bay Crone .., having no men to supervise and only the Ghost for 'company' (although the words Ghost and Company should never be written too closely to one another), took a rare opportunity to see what was going on outside the transport. At first, the porthole simply showed a starless void and the ship they had just undocked from. Then as he stared outwards, a ripple appeared in space and almost immediately blue lasers aimed at the nameless ship he'd been on. He stared in sheer disbelief. As a ground trooper, he'd not seen a space battle up close like this,(usually just flashes in the sky of whatever planet he was on which he cursed because it made them more of a target). He was helpless, it didn't matter now that he didn't know the ship's name as the lasers tore the ship into pieces and it ceased to exist. Chunks of metal flew in every conceivable direction. Before he had chance to worry about that or how the shuttle was going to avoid the debris.., Protoss ships appeared from all around them.

Crone's head told him that this mission had just gotten an awful lot harder.

He hung on to a crossbar by the porthole as the ship rocked violently. Was that from striking wreckage or a Protoss attack on his shuttle? Again the shuttle rocked, but worse this time. No, Protoss wouldn't bother attacking a small shuttle.., they tended to go for the bigger stuff.., like planets. Crone tried to steady himself but the ship started whirling around, throwing him in several different directions at the same time. He saw the faceless, armless body of the shuttle's pilot come towards him, impossible to avoid, as he blacked out.

His consciousness rammed itself back inside his unwilling head, vision returned more slowly, as he gazed around the site where the shuttle must have crashed. It was a forest seemingly, it was green but pockets of scorched earth were very visible. He saw the Ghost carefully scouting the area around the shuttle, hiding it as much as he could. Crone was angry and he let it all out as he threw himself at the Ghost. Crone had got him in a nicely tight choke hold

"Now you are going to tell me why this mission is so important that Protoss are involved? They are NEVER good news." Crone did not hide the malice in his voice.

The Ghost responded by using his psionic energy to thrust Crone into a tree twenty yards away. Stunned, Crone felt the Ghost shoving the nozzle of a gun into him a nanosecond later.

"We must come to an understanding.., you and I. I control powers beyond your understanding. I warned before .., irritate me and I will silence you."

The Ghost looked at him for an everlasting second, obviously considering something, before saying..,

"Still.., sometimes the situation does change.., and perhaps you need to know more about this mission. We are currently on a planet infested with Zerg.., your last battle and losing all your men should have shown you how desperate this War is. We may well do little but increase our losses, but damage limitation has its uses. That's what we are here for. This planet is more important than most would ever know. The Emperor charged me with infiltrating the hive on this planet and using the devices in my pack to prevent the Zerg being able to use a project that was being developed here. Only a few know of this project, but it could change the outcome of the war with the Zerg.., and they may have come to know about it. I must destroy it, whatever the cost... to do that I need to survive long enough to plant the devices. That is why you were sent with me to keep me from being mauled by any swarm of Zerglings we may encounter. I piloted the shuttle psionically to get us here .., there was damage."

Crone looked at the shuttle.., it had been very badly damaged by the debris.., maybe psionic abilities had their uses. He certainly owed his life to them, he grudgingly acknowledged to himself. The ghost put his gun away which allowed Crone to speak up.

"That still don't explain those Protoss"

The Ghost paused, then decided to reply

"That I do not know. I suspect they are here for the same reason we are. To destroy the hive. They just decide to be less subtle as their methods normally include destroying the planet. But this would take time and could give the Zerg chance to discover our project. We can't take that chance..,"

Suddenly, sounds could be heard in the bushes.., indecipherable alien tones. Crone and the Ghost promptly hid in the foliage. What they were saying was impossible to understand, but they were obviously a group of two Protoss - the lack of a mouth and the gold armour usually gave it away. They suddenly stopped and fell flat on their face for no apparent reason .., the Ghost walked out of the bush his gun barrel smoking. Crone didn't much like this.., he was supposed to be the one with the smoking gun. It seemed even on land he didn't have much of a part to play in the battle.., for the moment. Still, that should change.

Crone walked carefully through the foliage, it was a wild planet, only recently colonized, at least half of the plants he stepped through could kill and maim.., god knows why the planet had become such a desirable target. Crone tried to lighten the mood.

"You know, you could try to be a bit less cold"

The Ghost replied "And you could try to not help the enemy find us with your idle pointless chatter. How did you manage to survive this long?"

"A few well placed bullets always help, and I find flame throwers will destroy any nosey aliens who happen to overhear"

The Ghost almost sighed it seemed "That's where we differ. You blast without thinking to achieve your objective.., we are more subtle.., and that means one Ghost can achieve more than a whole squadron of commando's."

As if on cue, a mutalisk, wings flapping menacingly, tried to blitz the two humans. But not before Crone opened fire with his assault rifle and tore into its chitinous skin. The Ghost did sigh this time. And said under his breath..,

"Messy, and now they will probably know we are here"

The Ghost suddenly cocked his head to the sky as the noise of explosions filtered through the air, sounding muffled, but the ground vibrations made them very real.

"Do you hear that Marine? That is the sound of this planet being slowly bombed until the surface is glass. We need to move AND we need to do it quietly."

At that the Ghost raised his gun and started walking into the distance.

"Damn Ghost gunna get me killed with all this sneaking" Crone muttered under his breath.

The two Terrans moved as quickly as they could until they reached a clearing. Crone stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw gave him pause. Ahead he could see buildings of terran design but they had grotesque tentacles rooted into the building that were decidedly not of terran design - the settlement they had reached had obviously been infested. Normally he'd just destroy it, but he sensed this wasn't going to be a possibility this time.

"Marine, I expected you to be more horrified" the ghost said smugly. Crone laughed quietly and without mirth..,

"Partner, I been in the service 30 years, mostly fighting Zerg. I KNOW what they do to us when they get the chance."

Crone scanned the area around them and something made him look at one of the buildings again.., nodding towards it, he said "That the building?"

"I believe so" the Ghost grunted back

The two Terrans carefully pried open the main door and walked through. Inside, it was relatively untouched by the infestation they had seen outside. It bore the marks of some kind of skirmish, however, scorch marks and debris filled the corridor they had entered. Lying on the floor amongst blood stains was an abandoned log data pad. Crone picked it up gingerly; as if it was going to bite him. The ghost snarled and snatched the pad off of Crone

"It is not a vicious Zergling marine"

Crone was getting used to the constant state of irritation this Ghost induced. No wonder they worked alone! "My name is Timothy Crone, you better start calling me that or those fancy psionics aren't going to save you when I rip your spine out and feed it to you...,slowly"

The ghost simply shrugged and pressed play on the log. A middle aged man with unkempt hair appeared on screen, his white jacket stained with dust and blood.., screams echoed through the screen from the distance.

"I sent the emergency distress call. A Zerg scout party attacked, we killed them all with weapons and the force shield, but using the shield burned out our power units.., emergency power only.., can't redirect.., it's going to be hours till we have full power .. , the.., "

At that point the log frazzled into static before returning

"Escaped from the security area in the confusion and we can't get out..."

Again static before the video replaced it once more

".., picking us off one by one... I say again, be careful, full armour is required, they are enormously powerful.., we failed to keep ..,"

At that the log turned off, drained of power. The ghost let out an irritated sigh before tossing the log aside. Crone chose that moment to speak up.

"I doubt we're just dealing with Zerg"

The Ghost agreed "Indeed. Whatever this building is about has caused the Zerg and the Protoss to become involved. I need to assess this. I was told this building held something that would end the war.., this was a point and shoot mission.., but I think we need to know what to shoot at before it starts shooting back."

The two terrans weaved their way through the shadows.., searching. Then they came across another security door. The Ghost removed a complicated looking pad from his pack and started breaking the lock. It seemed able to power the door as well.., there was a buzz and the door opened.

The Ghost and Crone were unable to speak, as they viewed an enormously long room. It was filled with endless rows of pods as far back as they could see. The pods were filled with an illuminated but murky blue fluid that hid what was in the pods. The Ghost looked hard and said

"Maybe a genetic experiment?"

Crone replied "That would explain why Mengsk wants it gone but that still don't explain why the Zerg want it. We know they have hybrid technology"

The Ghost saw a terminal and connected his pad to it. As he started rapidly pressing the terminal's keys faster than Crone could watch he turned his head slightly and said

"Crone, cover me, but take a look at what's here as well, I'll see what information I can convince this terminal to give up."

Crone was reassured that somehow he seemed to have gained admittance to the 'Ghost Squad', at least it brought him some politeness. As the ghost deciphered security protocols and started decrypting what he had found, Crone walked toward one of the tanks. It lit up. "Hmm not sure that should be happening" he muttered under his breath. Crone took a closer look and saw...nothing. Then, almost beyond the corner of his eye ...something moved.., a single flash of something.., but when he turned to look he saw nothing.

"What the heck was that" Crone said his words laced with unease.

The ghost did not even bother to turn his head. "Check it out, that's what you're here for. I'm busy. This computer won't let me see much. So far, all I am getting is warnings of contingency failure which in layman terms, is not good for us.., trying to bypass ..," Crone walked towards the Ghost and then peered over the monitor. A dozen different displays were lit up in front of the Ghost. He was still franticly typing, but managed between keystrokes to speak

"I've managed to get a log from the database ..,

An image appeared before Crone on the monitor. It was the man from the log they had picked up near the entrance, but he looked less messy, more authoritative..,

"The subjects we have cultivated are starting to show the changes common with Phase One. They show some hive control.., and display definite Zerg like tendencies towards group behaviour" the scientist decided to straighten his lab coat he then took a deep breath "although they seem to be able to function on their own, unlike most Zerg, but they seem to return to part of a hunting hive when in a group."

At this point he was given a clipboard off screen "Some of the subjects have been subjected to combat tests. If these results are to be believed, then it would seem they use all three parts of their DNA when needed, but like I said fall back on the Zerg's swarm tendencies. They have remarkable combat skills. Truly a super soldier. Every scenario we set up resulted in a win for the new hybrids, except for the occasional hybrid who seemed to have more awareness of who they had once been.., not quite sure why that is happening."

He suddenly let out a slight chuckle

"Whatever happens this idea of splicing Zerg and Protoss DNA together with human subjects is probably Mengsk's best idea yet" the monitor suddenly deactivated with a startling hum

The Ghost pulled himself from the computer.

"Most distressing" the Ghost said in a mellow tone

"That's all you have to say? God dang it their making some kind of mutant soldier and all you can do is shrug it off" Crone did not hide the look of revulsion on his face

The Ghost just stood there and chuckled an unsettling laugh "Its just part of the mission.., I am concentrating on making sure I can complete it, not indulging in moral battles, however tempting. That's the way to survive."

"Anyway we need..,"

The Ghost was cut off as something ripped though the walls with ease and burst into the room with a loud crash. Whatever it was... was just wrong. It looked like it had once had a humanoid shape but someone had violently shoved Protoss and Zerg anatomy onto it.., and it was still emerging. It pulsed blue and sickly green pus leaked out of some cracks in its skin, most of the rest wass covered in a glistening blue chitinous carapace. Two claws like appendages forced themselves out of its cheekbone. Its glowing slit like eyes showed human pupils that spoke of the agony and madness this thing was enduring. It swiped at Crone with a jagged organic blade fused to its right hand. At the same time its left hand snapped its three fingers although you could see the three fingers had once been five. They were leaking blue/green gore as well, possibly it was a protoclaw. Crone managed to sidestep out of reach of its arms but it followed just as quickly. It swiped at Crone again, so he ducked and delivered a strong upper punch that hit its jaw. It screamed but whether in rage, madness or pain, didn't matter, neither did it pause in coming after Crone. Crone used a chair to leap over one of the pods but it followed again, leaping over the pods, showing no decrease in attack speed. These things were strong and quick. Crone ran, looking for a good defensive position, dodging around the pods but the creature seemed unstoppable. It charged, and managed to tackle him to the ground but just as the critter seemed about to maul Crone it opened what was left of its mouth.

"Kill meee"

Crone booted the thing off of himself. Was this a trick? He was bewildered, but then the thing tried to charge him again so Crone obliged .., it took nearly a whole clip to put the abomination down.

Crone shouted in an undignified manor "that was just...WRONG. I felt it in the air, it was unnatural"

The Ghost shook his head in a disapproving way "Yes i felt it. Like something was corrupting the residual psionic energy around this area. It nullifies my abilities almost totally. There was a darkness in my mind that was blocking my abilities. Strange you should notice that. You have good instincts. But, Crone you need to get a hold of yourself, we have to move on" the ghost's voice was peppered with irritation but he outstretched his hand. Crone took it and got up.

"Yeah, but you mind telling me what is in that pack of yours?"

The Ghost smiled inside his mask it was easily visible

"Not yet Crone, you are going to have to wait and see. I have enough technology to practically wipe out this planet but a lot quicker than Protoss methods."

Crone smiled grimly before lowering the visor on his helmet and walking with the Ghost through the maze of corridors.

The cold metal of the corridors led out into a row of doors. The doors had plates above them caked in splatters of blood and rust. None of the names meant much to Crone, bar one on a plate stencilled in clear brass letters "Crone J". What on earth was his wife's name doing here? The marine needed to see what was inside. He tried the door.., it was locked .., just then a scratching sound was heard and Crone and the Ghost swung round.

Another of the abominations charged Crone like a frenzied ultralisk. This one looked even worse than the previous one, it wasn't leaking pus, the chitinous carapace was fully developed, it had menacing claws and the mouth was fully sealed. It grabbed Crone in a chokehold, it was only then that Crone saw the face of his attacker.., he gasped for breath. This abomination wore the face of his wife.., the woman he had been looking for for most of his 30 years of service to the marines.

"Jane" Crone croaked, struggling but not sure what to do. Unable to hide the despair. "No... No what have these bastards done to you". He was shocked, he did not fire. Playing for time, he dodged a couple of lunges made by the thing that wore Jane's face. It gave no sign of recognizing Crone.., the mad eyes blazed with determination to kill him. The ghost shouted over the frenzied gurgles of the abomination "Fire your blasted weapon, Crone, NOW! Psionics aren't working"

Crone raised his assault rifle sluggishly. Not wanting to do what he had to. He gripped it tightly like it was his last lifeline in the world of nightmares he was living in. He fired his gun. The boom seemed faded, unreal. He fired again and again until the abomination was in pieces on the floor.., dead. Crone dropped to his knees like a dead weight, his gun slivered to the side. Kneeling like a condemned man totally destroyed.., Crone spoke and his voice, just this once, betrayed the lifetime of hardship he had endured.

"I was on leave.., just got off the shuttle .., so I headed into a bar to get a drink with the platoon and I see this angel looking at me. I walk over to her..., when we talked I could forget that I was in the marines, that I had sent soldiers to their deaths. I felt like a normal person around Jane. Before long we were married, the best days of my life. Then the Zerg came, they destroyed the home we made together, and my world. The Dominion said she had been kidnapped by them. I prayed that she was alive, that they were wrong.., and I swore to myself I was gunna I find her, however long it took. Instead I just put a bullet in something that these Dominion bastards turned her into. I give in, I just...I just want to die. "

The ghost peeled his mask back to his mouth and spat at Crone "MARINE you WILL be stronger than this. If you can survive 40 years of service, all you have seen, all you have done, you can survive another half an hour. If you need a reason to live then live to SPITE the Dominion, the same as I will.., because they KNEW what was here and sent me here expecting me to die.., which is probably exactly why they assigned you to me.., for the same reason."

Crone suddenly got up and laughed

"I get it, fine, for now, that's good enough. Have it your way. We do our damndest to survive this just because the Dominion thinks we can't. I've done it often enough before."

Crone picked up his weapon reloaded it and looked ready for war "now, let's set up that super nuke you still haven't told me about yet"

The ghost, taken aback for once, said

"how-"

"I may be a marine but I aint dumb.., I know how it works in these situations. I might not recognise the equipment but I know what it's supposed to do. Let's go do it."

Crone instinctively scanned the room and his eyes saw another data log. Crone scooped it up. He managed to navigate his bulky armoured fingers to the play button. The same man from the previous two logs appeared again this time looking even worse than the first log they'd seen. He was clutching his strained stomach and coughing badly ..,

"(cough) most of the science team is...not human anymore. Those abominations took them, turned them into more of themselves. We don't seem able to stop them. All our fail-safe's have (he laughed bitterly) .., failed." He backed up to a wall and sat down. The camera shook violently "Originally, Mengsk had teams conducting research on Zerg-Protoss hybrids. Then he told me and my team to splice human DNA into them. He found the subjects .., all human, god help us, had the subjects prepared and brought to us and we started on them"

He coughed again this time more violently

"(Cough)(splutter)At first all seemed to going as planned. We had some interesting hybrids. But it seemed the human DNA added a new unexpected element, they became smarter, they can act independently when needed as well as being part of a hive mind. They became a race in their own right, the best of the lot (he whispered).., maybe it's the hidden element the xel'naga were looking for to create the perfect race but didn't find.., us. We're IT. I'm so sorry for creating these...beings .., they have found a way to pilot space faring ships psionically.., they can reproduce.., and that's why this place needs to go before they get off this world and spread. Please whoever watches this.., end this abomination. Instead of ending the war and saving humanity, they could destroy all life in the known universe" he suddenly started convulsing before the log shut off"

The Ghost tossed the log aside

"And that Crone .., is why you need to live.., to stop this from spreading. It sounds like the Dominion are right to have concerns even if we don't agree with their methods and they started this off themselves. Another mad idea"

Crone nodded gravely and the two Terrans walked into the encroaching darkness knowing somehow where to go. Finally, Crone guessed he was in the centre of the base as it was the most obvious place to set a nuke. No more of the abominations had been seen although he could hear them everywhere.

The ghost was taping keys on the strange device he had placed behind the base's power source. It hummed as its systems came online. The Ghost moved away with an air of satisfaction, and said

"This device is extraordinarily powerful. It uses all energy sources, including the planetary core to magnify its explosive power. We have five minutes to get out. I could not set it for any longer, the Zerg will be aware of this base by now. The Dominion expected us to just sit down and die here, so using your tiny marine mind.., can you find us a shuttle?"

Crone just snorted "fine .., I'll find the..," Crone cocked his head to the ceiling towards a tiny clattering sound on the roof.., "the Zerg.., I can hear them .., they're coming..,"

There was an enormous crash and Crone looked up in the direction of the noise in time to see a large gleaming blue form fall from the roof into the room. It had a small pack of Zerglings clawing at it. It screamed, enraged before batting the Zerg away. It looked at Crone - it was obviously one of the new hybrids. It was a tall creature with the lower body of an ultralisk. The enormous brownish mud coloured legs glistened while the upper body had a blue Protoss tint to it. It still had a warped humanoid look, but the muscle on the beast was thicker than the hull of a battle cruiser. Its head was also of a vaguely human appearance but it was blue and had no mouth, its eyes burned a pale yellow. Crone hoped it wasn't burning with intelligence. Its hand slammed down to crush Crone's head, he managed to leap out of the way. He looked at the Ghost and shouted "we got to go to the hanger bay now while there's still a shuttle left"

"Pretty obvious "the Ghost agreed.

The two terrans ran at top speed. They found a wire enclosed lift but as it zoomed towards the hanger bay the hybrid still followed. There were reams of Zerg attacking it, but it clawed its way up the lift shaft. Knowing they had seconds to reach the hanger bay, the two terrans jumped off the lift before it even reached the hanger bay level. A nanosecond later the hybrid brutally ripped through the lift. It tried to charge but the Zerg attack was finally weakening it. It gave up chasing the terrans and tried to pull the Zerg of its back. The two terrans didn't have time to watch, they just concentrated on making good time towards the hanger bay. If the hybrid didn't come after them, the Zerg most certainly would, but they had gained a few precious seconds to get away. Crone spied a shuttle and shouted at the Ghost..,

"I'll defend, you start it up".

The Ghost ran up the ramp and inside. Crone looked behind and could see a horde of Zerg surrounding the now motionless hybrid .., but some were starting to look in the direction of the shuttle. Knowing the seconds gained had just run out, Crone fired a few blasts at the Zerg trying to destroy as many of them as he could, ran up the ramp himself and closed the ramp doors.., hoping they would hold. The Ghost shouted,

"strap yourself in, we're lifting NOW!"

Crone did as instructed, but barely made it. The shuttle took off at the steepest angle it was capable of. Trying to gain altitude before whatever weapon the Ghost had set consumed them. Crone and The Ghost held their breath for an endless two minutes, praying hard. They exited the planetary atmosphere but needed to be much further away.., the Ghost adjusted again and the shuttle seemed to groan.., but it was going a little faster. Was it enough? A blast brighter than a sun enveloped the two terrans vision and the planet behind them was consumed. The shuttle shook as the blast wave hit it, but seemed to survive (although Crone wasn't sure his wits would).

"What do we do now" Crone wondered out loud.

"I know a place" the Ghost grunted back

"What place is this.., not sure there are many places that will be interested in dead men that won't die.., with difficult ideas such as the Dominion being a heap of whatchamacallit?" Crone muttered.

"Crone .., shut up. It looks like we'll be working together a little longer than I planned but keep talking like that and I can still can eject you from the air lock" the ghost added dryly.

It was then a ship appeared to burst out of space. It was a Protoss mother ship. Its mission was obvious as it activated its tractor beam and dragged the shuttle towards their hanger bay slowly but inexorably.

"Damn those Protoss to hell" the Ghost shouted as his fist hit the console in frustration.

Crone simply laughed "Now that we almost certainly are going to die, could I have a name from you finally?"

The Ghost opened his mouth "Noah...and I cannot believe I told a marine that."

It was hard not to notice the smug grin on Crone's face.

"So now Noah.., we wait.., and see what happens next."


End file.
